


We Fall Together

by Nyxierose



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Sweethearts, F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5128583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxierose/pseuds/Nyxierose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five moments, five years apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Fall Together

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Life You Make In the Ruins](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5088329) by [ChancellorGriffin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChancellorGriffin/pseuds/ChancellorGriffin). 



> Obviously the logical reaction to having Major Feelings about a little background detail in another fic is to take the idea and turn it into something hopelessly fluffy, right?

They're seven years old. She cries a lot; he doesn't talk as much as people think he should. They're the weird ones in their second-grade class, bonded by circumstance more than anything, not friends but as close as either of them really gets that year and it's almost sweet. Their teacher definitely thinks it's adorable; their peers don't but there are better entertainments to be had than getting in the way of their dynamic. They're left well enough alone, and it's an oasis of peace in the storms of their young lives.

"You're sweet," she says the day she kisses him on the forehead - this is the one year of their lives that she's taller than him, by two solid inches, and she thinks she likes it.

"So are you, Tae."

(She will live to be eighty-three years old and the beautiful boy standing opposite her will remain the only person who ever uses that nickname for her. She is O to most people, Octopus and several other variants in high school, _never_ her pretentious legal first name if she can avoid it. But to the other half of her soul, she is always Tae.)

"See? You're lying to make me feel better."

"Am not."

"You mean it then?"

He nods, and she kisses his forehead again because he smiles pretty when she does that and it's the one time that year she actually laughs and it's beautiful.

\------

They're twelve and the power goes out halfway through second period English and she reaches out and squeezes his hand because it's the only thing she _can_ do. She knows it's pathetic to be this old and scared of the dark, but she's having flashbacks of that one time with the closet and it's _bad_ and she's digging her fingernails into her best friend's skin and probably hurting him and she doesn't _care_.

"Are you okay?" he whispers. She can almost feel him looking at her, big worried kind eyes that know the answer to his question before he even asks it.

(One of the best things about him, at least as far as she's concerned, is his ability to see right through her. It makes things easier on days to come, when she's not able to say what she feels but he understands anyways and knows how to help her.)

"Not okay," she breathes.

He lets her cling to him until the power flickers back on fifteen minutes later and a voice over the intercom says something about badly scheduled maintenance. He doesn't say anything about how her nails are sharp enough to make him bleed, nor do they ever speak of that day once it's over with. They don't need to. Most people think she's a little odd still, but he never does. He's solid, consistent, and his faith in her is the nicest thing she's ever known. (She wonders, even then, what she'll ultimately do to lose it.

\------

They're seventeen and she's pretty sure that he's the most beautiful person she'll ever know. Not just physically, although there is that component too - Lincoln is built like a Greek statue and somehow hasn't figured out how damn pretty he is - but in every way that counts. He's good and he's kind and he's perfect and she's a little bit in love and terrified. Guys like that don't go for girls like her. She's amazed their friendship has held up so well despite everything, but she's not about to question it. He's been the best thing in her life since they were small, he is _definitely_ the best thing in her life right now, and she's going to cling to that as much as she can.

She's a human disaster. He's actual perfection. It's a matter of time before it all goes to hell.

They're at a party, even though that's not his thing (it's not really hers either but it's starting to be), and she drinks more than she ought to (as usual) and then her brain remembers that he is _really pretty_. And because lately she's been in the mood to set everything on fire, starting with the few solid elements of her life, she pulls him down and kisses him just long enough that she'll never forget what he tastes and feels like. He's too good for this world, and she wants to cry before it's even over but she has to do this just once before she fully descends. Just one last moment of sweetness before she shatters.

"Tae?"

He's calling after her but she's running, she doesn't stop until she's completely alone and far enough into the woods that he won't find her and then she lets herself break down completely. This is how she falls apart, apparently. This is how she loses everything she wants. This is how she comes undone.

(She pieces herself together, girls like her always do, but she's never the same after that night and she's different enough that people notice and she never tells any of them a damned thing. They don't need to know why the strangest duo in their year is suddenly avoiding each other. And besides, talking about it would mean dealing with it and Octavia is determined _not_ to deal with it.)

\------

They're twenty-two and they see each other for the first time in four years at the first wedding of their old social circle. She's amazed they even still know any of the same people - she did a great job distancing herself, and from what she heard, she's pretty sure he did the same - but apparently they do because she sees him from across the room and her heart hurts just from looking at him. She decides, in that moment, that she's not going to do anything. If he wants to close the distance between them, he can go for it, but she's not that brave and she doesn't plan to do anything more than look and try not to break.

Sure enough, he wanders over to her a while later. "It's good to see you," he says, and he can't lie for shit but it doesn't matter because the visible happiness is still there and she knows he means it.

"What do you want?" she mutters.

"You disappeared, Tae. You disappeared and I've spent the last five years wondering what I did wrong and-"

"Wait, you thought it was your fault?" she interjects, trying not to laugh.

"Wasn't sure _what_ to think."

"And _that's_ where your mind went?" She looks him up and down, weighs her odds, and then practically tackles him. "I missed you, dammit."

To her surprise, his arms wrap around her and he holds her close, comforting. "I missed you too."

"I fucked up. I love you and I fucked up and-"

"We were kids. Things happen."

"Why are you always right?"

He doesn't answer, just presses his lips to her forehead and holds her a little closer. For the first time in five years, they both feel whole.

\------

They're twenty-seven the day they actually deal with their feelings. They're friends again, have been for a while now, and she's still pining and still completely convinced he'll never feel the same. The old refrain echoes in her head - guys like him don't end up with girls like her. But they're not the people they used to be, he's become more vibrant and she's become more calm, and sometimes she wonders if maybe there's a chance after all.

They're curled up on the couch in her apartment, watching some romcom that looked good until they pressed play and has since turned into the "it's so terrible that we _have_ to finish it" sort of movie, when he inches closer and she almost feels fear radiating off him. "Can we talk?"

Ohboy. "Is this a pause-the-movie sort of talk?" she counters.

"Nah, it's good background noise." He takes a few deep breaths, looks into her bright green eyes and nearly loses focus altogether. "What even are we?"

"Friends," she says confidently. "Weirdly codependent friends and platonic life partners."

"What if… not so platonic?"

She laughs, wants to burrow her face against his shoulder so he can't see how ridiculous her face is but now really doesn't feel like an appropriate time for that routine. "Keep talking."

"God, there really is no easy way to tell someone that you're in love with them…"

In a heartbeat, she gets it. "Really?"

"Really."

"I love you too."

They meet in the middle this time, and it's so much different from the last time but also so much better. He puts his hands on her face and she forgets how to breathe for a few moments but it's okay, this is good, what they have is good.

"So what even are we?" she asks later that night.

"Soulmates," he replies, fingers tangling in her hair. "Definitely soulmates."

 


End file.
